Where have I been? Not blogged for a LONG time
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Posted:Jul 15, 2013 8:00 pm
Last Updated:Aug 1, 2013 3:22 pm
9921 Views
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If you've bee one of my active readers and missed me! where have I been? Well, I have several desk top computers and they all have problems, hard drive died, reformatted the hard drive on another and the original password has been discontinued, other. So I've been using my laptop in the living room rather than in my home office and just have not been as energetic blogging. Lost some of my enthusiam. Few comments. Sorry. I do expect to get back into it. Everytime I make a recipe, and it turns out well, I say, I gotta share it. But then don't. I've also been busy prepping the house for painting, organizing the garage, organizing my office aka reviewing and throwing out papers, riding my bike, running. And most importantly, making sure my lady is well taken care of, the best I can. I owe her a lot!
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The best tasting chciken parm and tomato sauce
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Posted:May 6, 2013 6:57 pm
Last Updated:May 1, 2024 6:43 am
11256 Views
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i do a superb job at chicken parm and tomato sauce. It rivals any restaurant. I change it many times and make it a little different. Here is how I made it tonight.
I put in a sauce pot olive oil, heated, then added minced garlic and diced onion. As the onion started to clear, I added crushed tomatoes, tonight I used RedPack. In the past I've used Wegmans, Cento, DaVinci, Tutorossa. I added a touch of molasses, sometimes I add balsamic vinegar but tonight I did not, I added a dry oaken red wine. I tend to use this instead of a sweet wine. Then salt, oregano, basil, thyme. I let it sit for any period of time, at least 10 minutes, longer is fine, all day is NOT!
I coated the chicken with Italian salad dressing. You can make your own or use store bought. I then sprinkled on 4C Chiptole Panko crumbs and seasoned bread crumbs. Tonight I felt like a little spice. Normally I don't do this. I put the chicken in a hot pan with olive oil, cooked one side, added a little more oil if necessary and flipped it. I then added some minced garlic. A moment later a squeeze of fresh lemon juice (optional)and some white zinfandel wine. Let it cook for a minute and top with tomatoe sauce and grated cheese.
I then plated this, and the spaghetti. The remainder sauce in the chicken pan, I added back to the sauce and stirred, then put this sauce over the spaghetti. Wow! All that good tastes, the chicken, the wine, garlic, lemon, juices of everything. Outstanding.
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I screwed up the chciken soup OR you must use the right ingredients if you want good food
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Posted:May 6, 2013 6:28 pm
Last Updated:May 1, 2024 6:43 am
11365 Views
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Last night I made great tasting chicken broth for chicken soup tonight from 2 BBQ roaster chickens from the supermarket. After overnight refrigerating, I scraped off the fat that accumulated on the surface.
Fortunately I made a small batch.
I cut up the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, put in oregano, basil, thyme, bay leaves, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and white wine. The latter is where I screwed up. I used what I had left over of a Pinot Grigio, a very dry wine. It made the entire soup bitter tasting. I should have used white zinfandel! A much sweeter wine. I rescued the soup by adding a little crushed tomatoes. I may have improved the situation by, and grating a good Italian cheese in it. Grating! Not sprinkling that powdered crap cheese.
If you want the final product to taste good, you need to use good ingredients and use them in the right order.
My girlfriend said she thought the soup was good. I thought it was crap. But I ate it. It was healthy.
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Tuesday night dinner - Lime Chicken w Chili sauce
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Posted:May 2, 2013 10:19 am
Last Updated:May 1, 2024 6:43 am
11277 Views
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I got this recipe from Epicurious and it's interesting, my g/f said good, I thought it was just ok. Here is the recipe with my added touches. Don't think the added touches destroyed the recipe, if anything, it brought it to an acceptable level.
It's best for this chicken to be cooked on the grill though I did it in a frying pan. That may have been the reason that it wasn't as good as I had hoped it would have been.
I thinly sliced the chicken and marinated the chicken in lime juice, white balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, oregano, rosemary, garlic, chili powder, cayenne pepper, hot pepper sauce.
I then cooked this in a frying pan, with the marinated, and I added a touch of honey to it.
I made some brown rice and cooked some peas in a frying pan, added some garlic and onions, and added that to the rice with it was done. I removed the chicken and used whatever sauce was left and mixed it in with the brown rice and veggies to give it an added taste. Sounds good? Well, it was just ok. Not the high level of cooking I'm use to do or like to do. I'm glad I tried it but never would serve it to company.
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Chicken Fajitas with BBQ sauce & Blue Cheese & Italian Dressing on Foccacio flatbread
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Posted:May 2, 2013 10:04 am
Last Updated:May 2, 2013 5:45 pm
11251 Views
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Last night's dinner was rather easy. Easier if you have a bread maker to rise the foccacio dough. If you don't, buy some flatbread that you like. Buy a really nice tasty well seasoned flatbread with some texture, fluffiness. There is a store bought brand I enjoy but the name eludes me.
I make my own foccacio flatbread. If you have a breadmaker, it's easy to let the machine mix, knead, and rise the dough. If you don't, buy pizza dough and break it in pieces, let it warm, and then rise it, and roll it out in small circles. As I'm rolling, I then sprinkle salt and Italian seasonings on it, or freshly ground pepper, chili powder, whatever you desire.
I made guacamole to go on the sandwich. I scooped out an avocado, dices some fresh onion, put some crushed tomatoes in it, sprinkle some white balsamic vinegar, cooked some minced garlic in olive oil to flavor the oil and put the oil and garlic in the guacamole. I added some salt, fresh pepper, and a touch of hot sauce.
I then also lightly fried some sliced onion to go on the sandwich. I didn't want fresh onions, but I didn't want friend onions. You have your choice what you want it to taste like.
I partially defrosted the chicken because I wanted to cut it in very thin slices, almost like a cheesesteak sandwich, and it's easier to do it when it's partially defrosted.
I then marinated the chicken in a store bought fajita sauce/marinade. I wasn't happy with this step. I should have either made my own or not did this.
The chicken I put in a heated pan with oil, cooked it, flipped it, when it was almost done, I added some store bought BBQ sauce, store bought salad blue dressing, store bought Italian salad dressing, and some store bought bottled hot sauce! I mixed everything, let it heat up but not thicken. You want a sauce that has some liquid to it but not enough to drip out of the sandwich.
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Thursday Breakfast - omelet wth guacamole on flat foccacia bread
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Posted:May 2, 2013 9:37 am
Last Updated:Aug 31, 2014 12:42 pm
11076 Views
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Breakfast is tough! Stay away from cereal, don't teach your to eat cereal, it's crap. Have an egg. Once a week I have pancakes with whole wheat flour and oatmeal. I've posted this recipe previously. It's terrific. Mix some granola with yogurt or fresh cut fruit ith yogurt. Blueberries are terrific, lots of antioxidants to fight off free radicals that are created and float in your body and aging your cells.
I used some leftovers from last night.
I made some foccacio dough and guacamole last night. So I made a 2 egg cheese omelet, put it on some flatbread foccacio, topped it with the guacamole. I only cook my foccacio on a cast iron skillet, not a frying pan, a skillet doesn't have sides or sides are only 1/4"-1/2" high.
This was something different, very good, and very healthy.
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Tuesday night dinner - Chicken coated with blue cheese dressing, chiptole panko crumbs, Triple Sec
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Posted:Apr 23, 2013 3:55 pm
Last Updated:May 1, 2024 6:43 am
11201 Views
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I had no plans to do this tonight until I stood in front of the stove. All day my intention was to make chicken francaise, (chicken in lemon). As I started prepping for dinner tonight, I even took out the lemon an hour in advance to allow the juices to warm so more would come out of the lemon. I was thinking about dipping the chicken in an egg and milk batter coated with Chiptole Panko crumbs to take it up a notch and add a little spice. Then I came up with why don't I rub the chicken with blue cheesing salad dressing and then coat with the Chiptole crumbs. After cooking the chicken in olive oil, I didn't think a lemon would have gone well with it so I decided to put in the hot pan a hit of Triple Sec, an orange liqueur with a 1/4 cup of chicken broth and a good size dab of butter. You can eliminate the butter if you choose. I turned the chicken of course to cook each side and then when I added the triple sec and chicken broth, I then covered the chicken as the liquor and chicken broth creates steam and raises the temperature and helps cook the chicken keeping the chicken moister. When done, I added the butter and then served. You could also add or use heavy cream at this point. You could make more sauce and use the sauce for ziti pasta with peas. It would be a delicious sauce for that. And if you can get some seasonal fresh tomatoes, dice some and use some of those. Though all the latter I did not use tonight.
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Wednesday night dinner - Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken and mixed vegetables
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Posted:Apr 17, 2013 5:52 pm
Last Updated:Jul 2, 2013 2:35 pm
11600 Views
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I put this over brown rice and mixed vegetables.
I put the frozen mixed vegetables on a plate and defrost them in the microwave for 2 minutes on high.
I cook the brown rice in 1 cup chicken broth and 1 1/2 cups of water. Normally you cook it with a 1:2 ratio but using a little more liquid makes the rice softer and moister because I also increase the cooking time to 60-75 minutes on low and many times, the last 15-25 of the 75 minutes, I turn the heat off and let it sit. The chicken broth is for flavor and I generally add salt and curry powder to the water to it's absorbed by the rice.
I then plated the brown rice and put the
mixed vegetables on top of the brown rice with the chicken on the side. Tonight I had the chicken breast very thinly sliced but you can also do it diced.
I put the mixed vegetables in a pan in some canola oil and sesame seed oil, when done, I added some of the sauce and covered until done. I also added a small sliced onion to the mixed vegetables and some grated fresh ginger.
For the chicken, I sliced it, and seasoned with 5 Powder Spice and put it in a pan with canola and sesame seed oil. Flipped it when done on one side, cooked for a moment longer and added pineapple chunks and the pineapple teriyaki sauce. I let the chicken sit in this for about 5-10 minutes more, removed the chicken and let the sauce reduce a bit to the consistency you desire. Before the sauce reduces, I take some of the sauce and put it in with the mixed vegetables and cover the mixed vegetables so the sauce gets absorbed.
To make the sauce, mix it all in a dish or small pot. I took 1 cup of the juice from canned diced pineapple, the diced pineapple I put in the pan with the chicken. I added 1/2 cup of soy sauce, real soy sauce, not the caramel flavor added, 1/4 cup hoisin sauce, 1/4 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 1 fresh diced chili pepper or similar, or red pepper flakes, if you want the heat, 2 garlic cloves minced, 1-2 TB of fresh grated ginger.
Put a little of this sauce in with the mixed vegetables.
Cilantro is optional in this dish. You can also add cashew nuts to this dish and let them soak in the sauce with the chicken when you first add the sauce.
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Tuesday night dinner - Italian seasoned chicken with asparagus and chocolate cake
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Posted:Apr 16, 2013 5:58 pm
Last Updated:May 1, 2024 6:43 am
11689 Views
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The chocolate cake recipe I will post another night but it had a chocolate nut icing and was delicious. It wasn't very heavy nor was it light and fluffy.
If you don't like asparagus, try it this way, it is really very good. My girlfriend hated asparagus and for maybe 20 years she would not eat it when I cooked it. Finally she did and now she loves it the way I cook it. I grew up in a household that my mother was a terrible cook. She use to make me eat asparagus, boiled! They were terrible. I use to hide it on a ledge under the kitchen table and when the kitchen was empty, retrieve it and throw it out.
To cook the asparagus, I first snap the ends off the asparagus. If you hold the asparagus by the end and the middle and bend it, it will snap at the tender/tough part, throw away the tough part. I've saved it for soup but it was still tough and stringy. Throw it out. I wash the asparagus, dry it, then put olive oil in a pan, heat it up, and put the asparagus in the pan. I roll it around so it cooks evenly. You want the asparagus to start browning as if it was being cooked on a grill. Just before it browns, I add some butter to the pan and swirl it around. You can season with salt and freshly ground pepper! Freshly ground is almost a must for this. Tonight, I also sprinkled some Italian seasoning on, sprinkled some store bought Italian salad dressing, and swirled around, then just before serving which is quick, I sprinkled on some store bought off the shelf dry powdered parm romano cheese.
For the chicken, I thinly sliced it in several pieces, sprinkled some store bought Italian salad dressing on each side and rubbed it in, sprinkled on salt, freshly ground pepper, Italian seasoning, and some seasoned bread crumbs on both side, then put it in a hot pan with olive oil. When one side was done, I flipped it, put some more Italian salad dressing on it, let it sit for a minute, then put some minced garlic in the pan, minute later, added some white zinfandel wine, swirled it around, let it cook, removed the chicken and plated it, reduced the wine in the pan and used it as a sauce for the chicken, and poured some of it on the asparagus. Very tasty, very good, inexpensive, very impressive, very quick, very simple, restaurant quality. Did I miss anything?
Tomorrow night, maybe chicken and cheese with a chocolate sauce. Or chocolate teriyaki chicken.
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Thursday night dinner - Pistachio coconut encrusted tilapia and cauliflower w white chocolate sauce
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Posted:Apr 12, 2013 5:54 pm
Last Updated:May 1, 2024 6:43 am
11789 Views
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I made and posted fish with a white chocolate sauce a week or two ago and thought it was good but I could improve it. Well I did this time. This was excellent, superb.
I bought frozen cauliflower, defrosted, tossed it with olive oil and roasted it in the oven for 45 minutes at 450. Then I took it out. plated, poured some of the white chocolate sauce over it. Next time I'm going to toss it with an egg wash and olive oil and toss it with seasoned bread crumbs or chipotle panko crumbs, then put the white chocolate sauce over it upon serving.
For the fish, I coated the fish with honey, rolled it in a mixture of crushed pistachio nuts, coconut flakes, and chiptole panko crumbs. Then I fried it in olive oil and butter and covered it. Next time I'm going to quickly fry it on each side to give it a crust and then bake it. It may need to be covered with aluminum foil in the oven. This is still a work in progress. I also may sprinkled some nutmeg on the fish the next time. Not sure. As I've stated before, I don't post recipes unless I've made them and unless they are decent tasting or better.
If you want good food, sorry for being obnoxious, you need to use the ingredients I use and follow my instructions so it will come out the way I cook it. If you can cook my recipe better or have a suggestion to improve it, then post it here.
For the white chocolate sauce, I used white chocolate chips which you should not. You should buy a block or bar of white chocolate and grate it so it will melt and distribute easier.
Again, for the sauce,
2/3 cup of white zinfandel wine, last time I used a dry white wine, now I think I prefer a sweeter wine. Boil this until reduced in half.
1/2 cup of coconut milk, 1 cup of heavy cream, and 1/4 cup of white chocolate. Simmer this down with the white wine until it's reduced in half. Make sure it doesn't burn on the bottom. You may want to put a cast iron frying pan or any thick bottomed pan on the burner and then the milk sauce pot inside, on top, of this.
Towards the end, I added 1/4 cup of Malibu Rum, a coconut liqueur. When this mixture thickens into a usable pourable sauce, it's done. I then poured it over the fish and the cauliflower.
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Fresh Pepper
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Posted:Apr 10, 2013 12:50 pm
Last Updated:Apr 29, 2013 5:58 pm
10819 Views
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No recipe here, and no sex, just a quickie about using fresh pepper.
I grew up as a in a house that used a pepper grinder and since have always had one.
I don't know much about pepper, just that when I have eggs and foods where I can put the pepper on top of the food and see it, I use a grinder, and grind the peppercorns. I like seeing the pepper I put on the foods rather than hidden in the foods.
If I'm putting the pepper into foods such as sauces and soups, I use already ground pepper.
I've had several grinders through the years. I bought two of the same brand with lifetime guarantees that have broke and rather very quickly and would not recommend them, Trudeau. My current grinder was recently given to me and there is no name on it and it works great. For an inexpensive grinder that works well and includes the peppercorns, spend $1 at the dollar store, or spend $2.25 at Wal-Mart or the supermarket and buy a McCormick grinder
America's Test Kitchen has done an evaluation on pepper grinders and the results showed there are differences, mostly in the speed of the grind, but also in ease of disassembly, how to put the peppercorns in, changing of the coarseness of the grind. Some put out a lot of ground pepper in a short period of time, others take longer.
The winner was Cole & Mason Derwant Gourmet Precision Pepper Mill for $40. The past winner has been the Unicomp Magnum Plus Pepper Mill for $45.
when choosing fresh pepper, I buy a mixture of 5 different peppercorns. You can buy peppercorns online, at Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Home Goods, other. I've bought pepper at different places throughout the years and last bought it on a trip to Mystic Seaport in their gift shop. I paid a small $2 more there but felt it went to a good cause.
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Tuesday night dinner - Italian Chicken Parm with balsamic vegetables
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Posted:Apr 9, 2013 6:06 pm
Last Updated:May 1, 2024 6:43 am
9738 Views
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If you haven't tried "my" balsamic vegetables, they are so good. I heat a pan, olive oil, put the defrosted frozen vegetables with the string bean pieces that I hate, in the pan, stir it around, then add a piece of butter, when almost done, I add the balsamic vinegar and stir, when the balsamic vinegar has been absorbed and evaporated, it's ready to serve. Tonight I sprinkled Italian seasoning into the hot olive oil prior to putting the vegetables in the pan.
For the chicken tonight, it may have been one of the best tasting chickens I've ever made. I thinly sliced the chicken into a butterfly by cutting from the middle out so it folds out into thirds into one large thinner breast, and you can even cut it again and make another outward fold. I then seasoned with black pepper, chili powder, Italian seasoning, and a splash of Italian salad dressing. I also sprinkled the Italian seasoning into the hot oil in the pan. I placed the chicken breast in the pan, cooked one side and flipped it and added another dribble on the chicken of Italian salad dressing. When that side was almost done, I added a splash of White Zinfandel wine to the pan, and poured some crushed tomatoes on top of the chicken breast, topped with a shredded Mexican blend of package cheese. I then turned another pan upside down and covered to melt the cheese. Then it was ready to be served. Except this sat for about 10 minutes because my girlfriend wasn't home from the gym yet. This gave time for the meat juices to retreat back into the fibers.
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Monday night dinner - Curried BBQ Chicken with curried potato pancakes
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Posted:Apr 8, 2013 5:47 pm
Last Updated:May 1, 2024 6:43 am
9559 Views
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Many times I don't know what I'm going to cook until I stand in front of the stove but tonight I had a hankering for potato pancakes and I thought BBQ chicken would go well. I thought I wold season the sliced chicken breast with curry, add it to a hot pan, flip it and when it was almost done, add some store bought BBQ sauce on top, swirl it around, flip the chicken to cover both sides of the chicken.
An hour before I started dinner, I peeled and then grated the potatoes. I then soaked the grated potatoes in a bowl of cold water for an hour. i do this as the starch comes out of the potatoes and the potato pancakes are crisper and not as doughy or starchy. I thin drain and wash the potatoes another two times using a colander each time.
I added salt, curry, nutmeg, finely diced large onion, and a raw egg or two or three depending how many potatoes you use. The eggs help bind the pancakes together. I also add some type of a flour. It can be corn meal, white flour, matzo crackers or meal, pulverized triscuts, saltines, and crackers you choose. Many times I will use tje remainder of a package. You can also use these crackers to roll the chicken in rather than flour or bread crumbs. if you want a puffed up potato pancakes, you can add some self rising flour. You don't need much flour, few tablespoons or 1/2 cup to 1 cup depending again, how many potatoes you grate. I also add a liquid. It can be milk, cream, buttermilk. I then fry them in a little canola oil squashing down the pancakes as I put them in the pan. I prefer thinner pancakes.
Dump a lot of curry and nutmeg in the pancakes otherwise you won't taste it, especially the curry.
the pancakes are great the next day with eggs, sometimes I break them aoart in the frying pan and pour the egg milk omelet mixture over the top of the pancakes in the pan.
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